Rite Aid files for second bankruptcy, plans to close stores

The Philadelphia-based Rite Aid Corp. has filed for a second bankruptcy, the company has announced.

The group has begun proceedings for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and will sell off its assets, including all its stores, the company said in a Monday afternoon announcement. Rite Aid Corp. has secured $1.94 billion from lenders to support its filing process and sales, and has filed motions to support continued payment of employee wages and benefits during the proceedings.

In a letter to customers released Monday afternoon, Rite Aid said it intends to keep the majority of its stores open "for the next few months" and that pharmacy services will continue during that time, including prescription filling and immunizations. Following the sale of its stores and inventory, Rite Aid said, "we are working to facilitate a smooth transfer of customer prescriptions to other pharmacies."

"The second bankruptcy of Rite Aid comes as no real surprise," Neil Saunders, the Manhattan-based managing director of the analytics group GlobalData, said in an email Monday evening. “The first bankruptcy did little to resolve the chain’s issues, and it has been teetering on the edge of survival for quite some time.”

Rite Aid filed its first Chapter 11 in 2023 and closed 26 stores on Long Island between 2023 and 2024, leaving a total of 13 left as of last month. Newsday reported in April that rent had not been received at several locations, including North Bellmore, which is managed by Bellmore-based MGD Investments.

In a Monday afternoon call with Newsday, MGD president Larry Weinberger confirmed that MGD did eventually receive an April rental payment from Rite Aid and that the company wasn't yet late on its May payment.

"It's unfortunate to see Rite Aid in this predicament," Weinberger said. He said MGD has had no communication with Rite Aid since the chain missed its rental payment.

Tony Tanzi, the landlord of Rite Aid in Kings Park, said he was disappointed by the news and had not received an April rental payment.

"It's unfortunate," he said. "We were hopeful they'd save the location so they could save the jobs for the people who work there. It's been a staple of the community." 

A manager at Rite Aid in Selden declined to comment, while a manager at a Middle Island store told Newsday to contact the corporate office. Rite Aid's media team could not be reached as of Tuesday afternoon.

Rite Aid was founded by Alex Grass as Thrif D Discount Center in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1962, rebranded as Rite Aid in 1968 and was the third-largest pharmacy chain in the United States by 1981, according to its website.